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31/01/2026 13:46:07
I’m not sure what you would call this, it’s not a restoration as such more of a build up almost from scratch.
This ‘D’ Premier came to me as a virtually bare frame from Chris @HWVixen and was like a number of Webleys I have tinkered with from his now legendary Dennis Hiller haul.
It was one of the nicest condition frames (it’s had no refinishing to the blueing)and I’ve slowly collected bits and pieces together to be able to build it up. It has to be said that a number of the components also came from Chris as is so often the case 😎
The main issue with this kind of build is mating all the components together so that they work well and don’t feel like a ‘bitsa’ which is what it is after all. The only parts on the frame were the trigger guard and the rear end plug.
The piston was lightly polished and fitted with a replacement washer. The main spring was a new old stock find and I just polished the ends.
A replacement breech seal was fitted,a recent purchase from ‘Troubledshooter’ 👍
Trigger and sear were fettled and fitted with replacement new old stock springs and a trigger adjuster screw was fitted that was one of a batch I bought fairly recently from Ray Hall.
The grips are not for the purist I know, I cast them myself and I appreciate will not be to everyones taste but at least no one can moan about them being replicas that may fool future custodians 😬
The barrel was the final part of the jigsaw puzzle and purchased recently. The long link was a home made example but I had a genuine one in the spares stash so this was duly fitted along with replacement springs and pins.
I could see the remains of the stamped lettering had originally been picked out in white, little remained unfortunately so this was re done with toned down white enamel.
So that’s it really, it sounds fairly quick and boring on paper but actually took a fair chunk of time but was an enjoyable one to do and I’m glad to be a part of it’s resurrection 😎 I appreciate this is a collectors forum and it’s not a true collectors example but I thought one or two fellow saddo’s might enjoy a look and Thankyou to everyone involved with parts and especially to Airgun good guy Chris without who so many of these old Airguns would be lost forever 👏
31/01/2026 15:02:25
That is one nice looking Wobbly Phil...your grips just seem to set it off....I used to use a white crayon to fill the stamped lettering in when I had some pistols...another one rescued...well done and thanks for sharing it with us.
Looking at all those Wobbly pistol frames you seem to have more than one man can ever need....guess you will never need another hammer.!!
pjbingham reacted
31/01/2026 16:05:37
Very nice work Phil. Would you call it 'restoration', 'reclamation' or 'resurrection'? Probably the last, as it is something of a miracle, risen from the dead.
Yes. I agree with Chris that the marbled grips really set it off. More examples of your skilled casting work I presume? 👍 👍
pjbingham reacted
Topic starter
31/01/2026 18:28:29
That is one nice looking Wobbly Phil...your grips just seem to set it off....I used to use a white crayon to fill the stamped lettering in when I had some pistols...another one rescued...well done and thanks for sharing it with us.
Looking at all those Wobbly pistol frames you seem to have more than one man can ever need....guess you will never need another hammer.!!
Thanks Chris 👍 pretty much all of those frames are now fully built functioning pistols but I just do a thread here and there on them as I don’t want to bore the hell out of people with stuff that’s too samey
HWvixen reacted
Topic starter
31/01/2026 18:42:41
A ‘resurrection’ I think best describes it John yes 👍Very nice work Phil. Would you call it 'restoration', 'reclamation' or 'resurrection'? Probably the last, as it is something of a miracle, risen from the dead.
Yes. I agree with Chris that the marbled grips really set it off. More examples of your skilled casting work I presume? 👍 👍
It might sound a bit weird but I really like building up these frames in one way because they have passed through the hands of Chris and Dennis Hiller 😎
Yes the grips were made during my experimental casting phase 😬 they can be rather inconsistent so it’s nice when a fairly balanced pair appear out of the mould 👍
31/01/2026 20:14:57
There was another 'resurrection' a few years back, which you contributed to, when I was able to construct a complete Acvoke from bits and you provided a pair of your repro' grips. It still has a special place in my collection, thanks to you!
Topic starter
31/01/2026 20:38:03
Ah yes I remember those well 😎👍 Yours were the first pair out of the mould. I think I ended up making about 5 or 6 pairs in the end. Binners had a pair too for his Acvoke which if I remember rightly Laurie A fixed up for him 🤔There was another 'resurrection' a few years back, which you contributed to, when I was able to construct a complete Acvoke from bits and you provided a pair of your repro' grips. It still has a special place in my collection, thanks to you!
I genuinely enjoy being part of the process that helps see these old Airguns live again.
HWvixen reacted
31/01/2026 21:40:28
That looks superb phil and despite not being original grips I really like them and think they suit it
It's always satisfying bringing a pistol back to life,especially as good looking as that one 👍
pjbingham reacted
Topic starter
31/01/2026 22:04:39
That looks superb phil and despite not being original grips I really like them and think they suit it
It's always satisfying bringing a pistol back to life,especially as good looking as that one 👍
Cheers Stu 👍 tbh I’d be happier to have original grips on every one of my Wobleys but that is never going to happen. I think the best we can hope to achieve is good passable replicas where necessary.
I was lucky with this Premier as far as there was so much original finish remaining 😎
31/01/2026 23:29:11
Possibly "samey" to some I agree but to some of us tragics, there can never be enough of seeing how clever other people are at rescuing these wonderful examples of engineering from a bygone era. Regardless of if they end up classified as resurrected, refurbished or repaired etc they are All worth more than the time and effort put into their return to service.
Topic starter
01/02/2026 04:13:37
Cheers JSS, I will keep them coming for now but if I gets to the point where everyone starts growning about the latest technically not collectable Wobley on a collectors forum then please do just shout 😎👍Possibly "samey" to some I agree but to some of us tragics, there can never be enough of seeing how clever other people are at rescuing these wonderful examples of engineering from a bygone era. Regardless of if they end up classified as resurrected, refurbished or repaired etc they are All worth more than the time and effort put into their return to service.
01/02/2026 07:59:29
@pjbingham great work Phil. Definitely a resurrection, unlike the guns being torn down on eBay currently.
pjbingham reacted
Topic starter
01/02/2026 09:19:10
@pjbingham great work Phil. Definitely a resurrection, unlike the guns being torn down on eBay currently.
Cheers Ridgers 👍 This Premier was a nice one to do due in part to condition,with examples like this one I wonder why it was stripped in the first place but it was probably just at a time when it wasn’t considered economical to repair maybe.
Yes there’s a real growing trend on eBay at present and it genuinely saddens me to see what’s happening. I do understand if an example of anything gets broken for parts if there is already a lot broken or missing but to take perfectly decent examples and break them for no other reason than greed I will never agree with irrespective of who is defending those actions. Each piece has its own unique history, granted the details of which are now often sadly lost to time but that shouldn’t condemn any of them to destruction even for a more commonly seen model.
01/02/2026 10:45:07
Possibly "samey" to some I agree but to some of us tragics, there can never be enough of seeing how clever other people are at rescuing these wonderful examples of engineering from a bygone era. Regardless of if they end up classified as resurrected, refurbished or repaired etc they are All worth more than the time and effort put into their return to service.
I like stuff like this and Danny has given us "The Tinkerer's shed" 👍 Getting something together and working is interesting and less "Samey" than touching up the paintwork on a Tempest and T-Cutting it, and fitting a breech seal, which seems to get the most attention over on AGF 🙄
The Webley pistols, from the Junior through to the Tempest are all pretty much the same, but the problems they can throw at you are surprising. You only have to look at how many times a "My Webley pistol isn't cocking" has cropped up on the forums. Hopefully, these slightly technical posts help some people out in what they might encounter, when delving into an old Webley pistol. What I do find a bit annoying is when you tell somebody how to go about it and they don't follow it through.
A good example was someone on the BBS who had a gun that wasn't cocking. He didn't follow what I'd put about trying another barrel and linkage, then someone who lived nearby went round with one and the gun cocked. He then took the gun away and sorted it for the bloke.
pjbingham reacted
Topic starter
01/02/2026 11:03:22
Possibly "samey" to some I agree but to some of us tragics, there can never be enough of seeing how clever other people are at rescuing these wonderful examples of engineering from a bygone era. Regardless of if they end up classified as resurrected, refurbished or repaired etc they are All worth more than the time and effort put into their return to service.
I like stuff like this and Danny has given us "The Tinkerer's shed" 👍 Getting something together and working is interesting and less "Samey" than touching up the paintwork on a Tempest and T-Cutting it, and fitting a breech seal, which seems to get the most attention over on AGF 🙄
The Webley pistols, from the Junior through to the Tempest are all pretty much the same, but the problems they can throw at you are surprising. You only have to look at how many times a "My Webley pistol isn't cocking" has cropped up on the forums. Hopefully, these slightly technical posts help some people out in what they might encounter, when delving into an old Webley pistol. What I do find a bit annoying is when you tell somebody how to go about it and they don't follow it through.
A good example was someone on the BBS who had a gun that wasn't cocking. He didn't follow what I'd put about trying another barrel and linkage, then someone who lived nearby went round with one and the gun cocked. He then took the gun away and sorted it for the bloke.
Very true, I’m just mindful of repetition becoming very boring very quickly 👍
I know what you mean, I do try and remember that not everyone will understand what is written about how to rectify their particular Airgun but yes the same questions do get a little tiring it has to be said if the answers are then completely ignored. Unfortunately I get that at work as well 🙄
01/02/2026 11:10:59
I think the thing is that you and me (and hopefully a few others) like it when a problem crops up or the thing is kicking someones arse. It is not very pleasant when you get something like that but often, afterwards, you look back and think that you have sorted it and found something else out.
Also, some of these problems are because, over the years, various people have "had a go" at trying to sort things out.
Topic starter
01/02/2026 11:32:08
I think the thing is that you and me (and hopefully a few others) like it when a problem crops up or the thing is kicking someones arse. It is not very pleasant when you get something like that but often, afterwards, you look back and think that you have sorted it and found something else out.
Also, some of these problems are because, over the years, various people have "had a go" at trying to sort things out.
Yes that Premier of Dan’s was very much like that. Some parts were original,some were modern ‘fettle to fit’ replacements and various wallybrains had ‘fixed’ it over the years. That one was a challenge there for a bit but ultimately a learning curve but atleast Dan got his Premier back. From memory I think he was sold it as functioning or just needing a service,something like that 🤔
01/02/2026 12:45:37
I think Dan got the Premier off Vic , not working along with another pistol or two, I think he got a Typhoon and maybe a Mk1? I told him not to go for the Premier as I suspected it would be a bugger. BUT --Dan didn't listen and you had the "joys" of tinkering with it. I think I sometimes have a bit of a feel (OH ERR!) for some guns, like your "Triggers Broom" G44. I said that would be crap before I got it didn't I?
pjbingham reacted
Topic starter
01/02/2026 12:58:00
I think Dan got the Premier off Vic , not working along with another pistol or two, I think he got a Typhoon and maybe a Mk1? I told him not to go for the Premier as I suspected it would be a bugger. BUT --Dan didn't listen and you had the "joys" of tinkering with it. I think I sometimes have a bit of a feel (OH ERR!) for some guns, like your "Triggers Broom" G44. I said that would be crap before I got it didn't I?
You could well be right, I don’t really remember but I do recall having to weld the cocking saddle part as that had been filed off although I’m not sure why that would have been done 🤔
Yep but Triggers Broom turned out kinda ok in the end 😬
